It positions Crist nicely as an un-Bush, and more and more Republicans will have to do that," Larry Sabato said of Charlie Crist's new environmental initiatives. "If you're a Republican like Charlie Crist, do you want to be the next Gov. Schwarzenegger or the next George W. Bush?"

One of Crist's predecessors, Bob Graham, warned that the governor is close to overstepping his authority. Using an executive order to revamp the state's energy policy, rather than trying to get a law passed by the Legislature, "might push the envelope," warned Graham, a Democrat who served two terms as governor before being elected to the Senate. He could not recall another instance where a governor tried to make such a major policy change using an executive order.

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